Crushtor chats to Brian Lew, co-author of a new book that captures the rivet-headed zeitgeist of the 80s San Francisco Bay Area thrash scene.

The San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal scene of the 80s – the same soil from which Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth grew is imbued with a certain drunken reverence. Hazily remembered details lend themselves to pages upon pages of ghostwritten annals by riff-weathered guitarists and frontmen. What remains are oft exaggerated tales of destitution, rose-tinted and booze drenched memoirs of a heady and volatile time in American heavy metal. One medium once told no lies to the face of rumors and fabrications; the humble photograph.